As part of the Los Angeles Film Festival’s Coffee Talk series last week, Bond 22‘s director Marc Forster and screenwriter Paul Haggis sat down to discuss the upcoming James Bond film.

‘I’ve been trying to look into it for a while and been looking for the right project,’ said Forster regarding the Bond series and its well-known action spectacle. ‘I just haven’t found it until now so I always had the fascination. I just always enjoyed them very, very much, loved the whole Indiana Jones series, the old Bonds, all those movies.’

With Forster currently working on The Kite Runner, he hasn’t had much of a chance to consider Bond 22. ‘I’m just literally mixing The Kite Runner in July and then sometime in August or September, I start [Bond 22]. To be honest, I haven’t put any thought because really, my mind is in The Kite Runner and scoring and finishing that up. I haven’t really spent any time with that stuff. I wish I could tell you. Maybe in a later period … I think finding Bond girls will always be an interesting task but again, not something I have dealt with at this point.’

Paul Haggis (who returns from Casino Royale) was offered the director’s chair for Bond 22 at one point, but insists that he didn’t want the job. ‘There are certain things you can write and there are certain things you can direct. I just felt that it takes a big commitment to direct a Bond film. It’s a 120 day shoot. It’s a two year commitment basically to do it. If you do that on top of writing, it’s almost a three year commitment. So I just didn’t want to dedicate that much time. It’s going to take me six months to get the script into shape as it is. I think I’ll do that and then I’ll go off into the next project.’

While currently working on the film In the Valley of Elah, Haggis has also been busy with the Bond 22 script (which he was scheduled to work on just after he left this very interview). The action sequences are a major aspect at this stage: ‘I didn’t come up with the [Bahamas construction site] chase sequence in the beginning [for Casino Royale]. That was Martin Campbell who came up with that and it was presented to me. But just the stairwell scene and things like that, I’d come up with, so I’ve got a couple of those planned.’

One of the biggest news stories from earlier this year was that Bond 22 was set to be a direct continuation from the events that occurred in Casino Royale. Not entirely so, according to Haggis: ‘I wouldn’t describe it as such,’ he says. ‘I think it’s going to stand on its own although it does follow right on the heels of Casino Royale.’

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Bond 22 (title TBA) is the 22nd James Bond 007 film produced by franchise holders Eon Productions. Daniel Craig will be returning from Casino Royale to play James Bond. Bond 22 will be directed by Marc Forster with the script written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Paul Haggis. Filming is due to begin in December 2007 and is scheduled for release on 7 November 2008.